Mining & Trade News

The Malawi Government is preparing to construct irrigation canals in the Lower Shire Valley Districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development says in a statement that the canals will be constructed as part of the Shire Valley Transformation Programme (SVTP) which it is implementing with financial support from the World Bank, African Development Bank and Global Environment Facility (GEf).
The Ministry says the Programme will develop 43, 370 hectares of the land for large scale irrigation in the two districts.
“As part of the SVTP, irrigation canals will be constructed to enable the conveyance of irrigation water from Kapichira Dam on the Shire River to targeted farming areas within the two districts,” says the Ministry.
As the construction of the irrigation canals will affect people’s land and property, the government is currently sorting out compensation issues to pave way for the civil works.
Though an agro-based economy, Malawi’s agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farmers who mainly grow crops at a subsistence level.
Overreliance on rain-fed agriculture has resulted in perennial food shortages in the country due to climate change related causes such as drought and floods.
The government is, therefore, implementing SVTP to promote irrigated commercial farming and ensure food security for the nation, whose population stands at 17-million.

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